Supreme Court EPA Power Plant Rule Stay Decision Leaves Serious Reliability Threat Unchecked

ARLINGTON, Va. - National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of its application to stay the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rule.

"The EPA Power Plant Rule poses severe harm to American consumers, the U.S. economy and the nation's electric grid," Matheson said. "Given today's ruling, it is essential that the DC Circuit expedites their evaluation of the legality of the EPA rule, which we believe is unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable. Failure to do so will jeopardize the reliability of the nation's electric grid, which is already under threat from skyrocketing electricity demand."

NRECA filed its application to stay the rule on July 23, stressing that the rule is unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable. It disregards the law and prior Supreme Court decisions, requires the use of inadequately demonstrated carbon capture and storage technology, and mandates wildly unrealistic compliance timelines.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation's landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $15 billion annually in their communities.

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